CVBs are extra-challenged this year to attract your attention, and they're attempting some novel marketing ideas.

On its blog, “I Love Springfield, Mo!,” for example, the Springfield, Missouri, CVB lists “Places to Steal a Kiss From Your Sweetheart.” The organization also wants to be your friend on Facebook.

“Business as usual is not going to work,” agrees Vince Lindstrom, director of the Joplin, Mo., Convention and Visitors Bureau. The bureau got creative by revamping its Web site and working out a deal with local trucking companies to affix promotional stickers to their trucks advertising the city.

The big news in Branson, Mo., will surely make it an even more attractive destination to planners: The high-flying destination city finally has its own airport. Branson Airport, the first privately funded and operated commercial service airport in the United States, will host one of the nation's top 10 air shows during its grand opening celebration May 8-10. It opens for commercial air service May 11. AirTran has already announced service nonstop to Milwaukee and Atlanta; Sun Country Airlines will provide service from Minneapolis-St. Paul. The airport expects to announce four more carriers by summer.

Being able to offer something new at a time when the competition is holding fast will also be a likely advantage in Kansas City, Mo. More than $9 billion in major improvements are under way across Kansas City, including $4.5 billion in downtown development. The new construction downtown will feature an entertainment and nightlife district. In addition, the state-of-the-art, 18,500-seat Sprint Center — home to major sporting events and concerts — opened in October after a $276 million investment.

Across the river from Kansas City, Mo., is Kansas City, Kan., where the Schlitterbahn Vacation Village is under construction. The Schlitterbahn Water Resort is scheduled for a summer 2009 opening, along with several lodging components and the initial shops and restaurants that will be placed along the Riverwalk, a 3,000-foot-long shopping and entertainment district. By summer 2011, the entire project will be complete. The area will include 1,500 guest rooms and 750,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.

Hotel development is also under way in Lawrence, Kan., where the upscale Oread Inn is scheduled for a January 2010 opening on the University of Kansas campus. Its two ballrooms will accommodate 325 and 350 people each.

In Oklahoma, Tulsa is making a big splash welcoming conventions and larger meetings with the $50.5 million expansion and renovation of the Tulsa Convention Center (set to debut in the first quarter of 2010) and the completion of the 550,000-square-foot, 18,500-seat BOK Center, which opened in September.

Arkansas

• New to North Little Rock: a Best Western Inn and Suites located midcity at the junction of Interstates 30 and 40; a new Econo Lodge that opened in February; and a Hilton Garden Inn slated to open in fall 2009 with 3,000 square feet of divisible meeting space and a 1,000-square-foot boardroom.

• In Conway, home to Hendrix College, a Fairfield Inn & Suites opened in February.

• The 92-suite TownePlace Suites Fayetteville North/Springdale opened in Johnson in January. The extended-stay hotel, a Marriott brand, has a 24-hour business center.

Kansas

• In February, Kansas City Marriott Country Club Plaza completed a $9 million renovation of its guest rooms.

• The Overland Park Marriott completed a $20 million renovation, including all 398 guest rooms, the ballroom, and 14,000 square feet of meeting space.

• Lawrence will be home to a new 110-room hotel and meeting property, the Oread Inn, in January 2010. It is under construction on the northern edge of the University of Kansas campus. The property will include an amphitheater, two ballrooms with capacities of 325 and 350, and three boardroom/conference room/private dining spaces with capacity for 30, 40, and 60 guests.

• Topeka's Kansas Expocentre, which consists of Landon Arena and Exhibition Hall, has added an additional 8,500 square feet of atrium space at the front entrance.

• The Kansas Capitol Building in Topeka is undergoing extensive renovations, including reclaiming numerous frescoes previously covered over and creating a new visitors center.

• The Park Place development near Sprint's international headquarters in Leawood will soon welcome two new hotels — the 156-room aloft by W Hotels (April 2009), and the 148-room Element by Westin (April 2010).

Missouri

• JQH Arena, a $67 million, 11,000-seat project at Missouri State University, in Springfield, was completed in November. The university's 10,000-seat Hammons Student Center will be renovated.

• StoneBridge Village's new conference center in Branson can accommodate meetings for up to 250 people.

• A new Hampton Inn at Branson Hills is scheduled for completion in May.

• Castle Rock Resort, at the former Atrium Inn in Branson, offers a new indoor waterpark and 2,000 square feet of meeting space.

• A new terminal opens May 6 at Springfield-Branson National Airport. Allegiant Air has increased service, bringing the total number of direct flights in and out of Springfield to 13.

• Ground was broken in 2008 for the Independence Events Center, a $60 million, 5,800-seat multipurpose event center. Completion is expected this year. The 131,972-square-foot facility features a 75,000-square-foot arena bowl with 5,800 seats and two ice rinks.

• A new 102-room Staybridge Hotel will open by late June or early July, in Independence.

• Lambert-St. Louis International Airport has a major renovation under way. Improvements include new lighting, new baggage carousels and conveyer systems, and new roadway signs.

• Adam's Mark Hotel was rebranded the Hyatt Regency St. Louis Riverfront and is undergoing a $63 million renovation.

• The St. Louis Airport Marriott has transformed 7,000 square feet of former restaurant and lounge space into a new flexible conference venue with cutting-edge technology. Located on the third and ninth floors of the West Tower, the space consists of seven meeting rooms, two large conference rooms, and two executive boardrooms. The $1.1 million renovation was completed in January.

• The Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark, across from Busch Stadium, completed a $5 million renovation of 7,500 square feet of ballroom and meeting room space.

• Chase Park Plaza in St. Louis was transformed by a $20 million room renovation as well as refurbishment of all public spaces and meeting areas.

• The Hyatt Regency at Union Station has been reflagged the St. Louis Union Station Marriott and has undergone an $8 million upgrade of its garden rooms and a $1.2 million renovation of its historic Regency Club rooms.

• In Maryland Heights, a 104-suite Homewood Suites by Hilton has opened.

• In another St. Louis suburb, a 100-room Hilton Garden Inn opened in Chesterfield.

• The Clarion Hotel Sports Complex completed an extensive renovation and rebranding in May 2008. Now the Sheraton Kansas City Sports Complex, the property is home to CoCo Key Water Resort, a 55,000-square-foot indoor waterpark that is Missouri's largest. The hotel's 374 guest rooms were also renovated. There are 18 meeting rooms totaling more than 16,000 square feet.

• Westport's Quarterage Hotel reopened in summer 2008 as The Q Hotel & Spa after extensive renovations. Its meeting space can accommodate up to 150 people, and its boardrooms can handle 12 to 15 attendees.

• The 388-room Radisson Hotel and Suites in downtown Kansas City has been rebranded the Crowne Plaza Kansas City Downtown. The hotel invested more than $12 million.

• The InterContinental Kansas City at the Plaza completed a $15 million renovation in March 2009 that included all 366 guest rooms, meeting rooms, and public spaces. It features 29,000 square feet of meeting space.

• The Kansas City Marriott Downtown, Kansas City's largest convention hotel, wrapped up the final phase of a two-year, multimillion-dollar makeover in December 2008 covering all 573 guest rooms in the Marriott Tower and 410 guest rooms in the historic Muehlebach Tower.

• Also in Kansas City, the Westin Crown Center, with 729 rooms, and the Hyatt Regency Crown Center, with 731 rooms, will renovate their entire inventory of rooms by summer 2009.

• The Raphael, Kansas City's historic boutique hotel, is more than halfway through a total restoration that includes all 126 guest rooms. By fall 2009, there will be dedicated meeting space for the first time in the hotel's history. The two new meeting rooms will offer meeting and banquet space to accommodate executive conferences up to 12 and classroom meetings for up to 36 or receptions for 65.

• The area's first Marriott Renaissance Hotel will open in early 2010 in Briarcliff, a mixed-use development located 10 minutes north of downtown Kansas City. The full-service, 250-room hotel will include 10,000 square feet of meeting space.

• Columbia Regional Airport in Columbia, home to the University of Missouri, will add nonstop Northwest Airlines flights to Memphis and Columbia in August.

• Big Cedar Lodge opened the new Grandview Conference Center — including five rooms of varying sizes — at its Ridgedale resort.

• A 74-room Holiday Inn Express & Suites will open in St. Charles on May 1. It will include two small meeting areas: 1,080 square feet and 365 square feet.

Oklahoma

• The Tulsa Convention Center is undergoing a $50.5 million expansion and renovation that will create the state's largest ballroom, including 13,625 square feet of pre-function space and seven additional meeting room spaces. Renovations are slated to be complete the first quarter of 2010.

• Tulsa's new $178 million BOK Center features a 550,000-square-foot, multipurpose arena with 18,500 permanent and retractable seats and 38 luxury suites.

• In July, Tulsa's Downtown Doubletree Hotel will begin a $6 million upgrade.

• A $40 million renovation of the historic Mayo Hotel in Tulsa is under way, with plans for 72 luxury lofts, 100 hotel rooms, and an upscale restaurant to be finished by October.

• The Atlas Life Building in Tulsa will become a 120-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel and should be complete in 2010.

• Tulsa International Airport is midway through its $70 million expansion and renovation, including concourse renovations. By early summer, Tulsa will add nonstop daily service to Los Angeles.

Trip Tips

• The expanded trolley service aboard the River Rail Trolleys travels on approximately 3.1 miles of tracks through the downtowns of North Little Rock and Little Rock, Ark.

• Springfield, Mo., has direct flights to and from 13 airline hubs.

• St. Louis' Conven-tion Center MetroLink light rail station can deliver 6,400 people during a one-hour peak period before an event. The station is fewer than 300 steps to the main entrance of the Edward Jones Dome.

• In Tulsa, a city of 800,000, it's surprisingly easy to get almost anywhere in the metro area in 20 minutes or less.

Ask the CVB

Arkansas

Bentonville Convention & Visitors Bureau
(800) 410-2535
www.bentonvilleusa.org

Eureka! Springs Visitors Bureau
(866) 566-9387
www.eurekasprings.org

Fayetteville CVB
(800) 766-4626
experiencefayetteville.com

Hot Springs CVB
(501) 321-2027
www.hotsprings.org

Little Rock CVB
(800) 844-4781
www.littlerock.com

North Little Rock Visitors Bureau
(501) 758-1424
www.northlittlerock.org

Pine Bluff CVB
(800) 536-7660
www.pinebluffonline.com

Kansas

Emporia CVB
(800) 279-3730
www.emporiakschamber.org

Franklin County CVB
(785) 242-1411
www.visitottawakansas.com

Kansas City CVB
(800) 264-1563
www.visitthedot.com

Lawrence CVB
(785) 856-5282
www.visitlawrence.com

Lenexa CVB
(800) 950-7867;
lenexa.org

Manhattan CVB
(785) 776-8829
www.manhattan.org

Overland Park CVB
(913) 491-0123;
opcvb.org

Go Wichita
(800) 288-9424
www.visitwichita.com

Ask the CVB

Missouri

Branson/Lakes Area Convention & Visitors Bureau
(800) 214-3661
www.explorebranson.com

Cape Girardeau CVB
(800) 777-0068
www.visitcape.com

Columbia CVB
(573) 875-1231
www.visitcolumbiamo.com

Kansas City CVA
(800) 767-7700
www.visitkc.com

Greater Lake of the Ozarks CVB
(800) FUN-LAKE
www.funlake.com

Greater Saint Charles CVB
(800) 366-2427
www.historicstcharles.com

St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission
(800) 325-7962
www.explorestlouis.com

Springfield CVB
(800) 678-8767
meet-me-in-springfield.com

Oklahoma

Norman CVB
(800) 767-7260
www.visitnorman.com

Oklahoma City CVB
(800) 225-5652
www.visitokc.com

Greater Shawnee Area CVB
(888) 404-9633
www.visitshawnee.com

Stillwater CVB
(800) 991-6717
www.visitstillwater.org

Tulsa CVB
(800) 558-3311
www.visittulsa.com

Special Venues

• Overland Park, Kan., offers a variety of special event venues, including Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Gardens (913/895-3604; www.artsandrec-op.org/arboretum); Ritz Charles (913/685-2600; http://ritzcharles.com/OverlandPark); Leawood Theatre (913/642-1133; www.fineartsgroup.com); and JCCC Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art (913/469-4423; www.jccc.edu).

• The Discovery Center, a hands-on science museum in Springfield, Mo., is a Gold LEED-certified, environmentally friendly building. The center has room for receptions and meetings, a theater, and classroom space. (417) 862-9910; www.discoverycenter.org

• City Museum in St. Louis has flexible rental scenarios and the option to rent the entire museum. Its Architecture Hall seats up to 300 people. (314) 231-2489; www.citymuseum.org

• College Basketball Experience in Kansas City, Mo., is a 41,500-square-foot facility with hands-on basketball exhibits and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. (816) 878-6222; www.collegebballexperience.com

• Adjacent to the Power & Light District in Kansas City, Mo., is the new 18,500-seat Sprint Center. The $276 million arena opened in 2007 and hosts major concerts and events. (816) 949-7000, www.sprintcenter.com

• The Historic Daniel Boone Home & Boonesfield Village, in Defiance, Mo., offers tours for a glimpse into Missouri's past. (636) 798-2005; www.lindenwood.edu/boone/

• The Silo Event Center at Redberry Farm in Tulsa, Okla., consists of two stand-alone structures: The Silo and The Grange. The 5,500-square foot Silo contains a full kitchen for catering and an indoor stage, with banquet seating capacity of 180, and total capacity of 300. The 1,100-square-foot Grange is ideal for smaller gatherings, holding about 40 to 60 people. (918) 447-2724; www.thesilotulsa.com

• The Tulsa Air and Space Museum & Planetarium can plan events for 350 or more around vintage aircraft or a starry night presentation at the Planetarium, or a teambuilding course in the Flight Computer Lab. (918) 619-2511; www.tulsaairandspacemuseum.com

• The $120 million Expo Square in Tulsa, Okla., has new facilities and renovations for the largest exhibit space in the region: 450,000 square feet with more than 5,000 seats in the arena/pavilion. (918) 744-1113; www.exposquare.com